18 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
THE PRAIRIE HABITATS 
Originally, before the claiming of Johnson County for agri- 
cultural purposes and the complete cultivation of the tillable 
land, this was a typically prairie region, save in the relatively 
narrow strip of timber in the rough land along the watercourses 
and on the flood plains. This prairie ranged in character from 
that of the semi-arid sand dunes of the west part of Madison 
township and the north part of Oxford township, which were, 
and are, decidedly xerophytic in nature, through the various 
stages of the open prairie approaching the mesophytic in the 
bogs and swamps, where the vegetation shaded gradually into 
the hydrophytie. | 
Of these original prairie conditions but little remains. This 
has, of course, been due to the fact that the open rolling and 
alluvial prairies afforded the best opportunities for farming. 
Consequently these stretches of land were rapidly put under 
cultivation until only a few limited areas remain to evidence the 
true character of the prairie itself. These limited areas have 
been accidentally preserved on certain of the earlier railroad 
right-of-ways. The more extensive of these strips is that lying 
along the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacifie right-of-way, which 
reaches from within the city limits of Iowa City eastward for 
several miles. The largest remaining bit of prairie, except a very 
small patch within the city limits near Black Springs, is a small 
stretch of sandy prairie just outside the city along the track of 
the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway south of Iowa 
City. 
Of other types of prairie formation practically nothing re- 
mains in the original condition on account of cultivation and 
persistent pasturage of the less tillable land. While formerly 
the forested areas north of Iowa City contained many bits of 
open prairies, or ‘‘oak openings’’ on the hilltops, which were too 
much exposed for the establishment of forest, these too have 
been pastured until they no longer present the original natural 
vegetation. These small strips of ‘‘once-prairie’’ are still recog- 
nizable by the absence or scarcity of trees, and by the presence 
of the 13-lined spermophile, which has persisted on these open 
spaces but is not regularly found in the adjacent timber. 
